Poem

My patch of green in the urban jungle

Is down the meandering, river-like road

From the woodland of apartments that I call home

It’s a peaceful hidden oasis of shining verdant green

Amid the squawking of the birds that are cars and machinery

My patch of green in the urban jungle

Is tended to by many species of people

It has been cultivated to a point where its bounty

Is a rainbow array of Mother Nature’s gifts

Harvest is all year round

Because our harvest is a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach

My patch of green in the urban jungle

Is at the heart of my community

As an allotment, its purpose is to bring people together

And let us make friends whilst protecting nature

But how can it do that

If it’s not there?

My patch of green in the urban jungle

Is under threat from redevelopment

Doomed to become a finite forest of lifeless beige buildings

Chock full of incessantly twittering TV screens

And devoid of bright flowers and birdsong

I have a patch of green in an urban jungle

And I would like it to be preserved

The secret lavender patch behind the shed

The plot where the nursery children grow strawberries

The tree with branches low enough to swing from

And the waist high grass we run through

They are dear to me

And to everyone else that knows about them

Britain is losing its green patches

And becoming an urban jungle

Soon, children won’t know what it’s like

To swing from low branches and hide in lavender beds

The only birdsong they know

Will be the chattering of their phones

Let’s give the children of tomorrow

A future in which nature is key

And protect the little patches of green

In this vast urban jungle

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